Shock-absorbing door and gate latch.



T. CONNOR. SHOCK ABSORBING DOOR AND GATE LATCH.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 18, 1911.

Patnted Mar. 11, 1913.

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} T'. CONNOR. I SHOCK ABSORBING DOOR AND GATE LATCH.

' APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 18, 19 11. 1,055,61 3.

Patented Mar. 11 1913.

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a? ATTORNEX' the door.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS CONNOR, OF SAN IERANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF FORTY-FIVE ONE- HUNDEEDTHS T0 G. L. CONENS, OF SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA, AND TEN ONE- HUNDREDTHS TO E. J. HALL, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

sfiooK-ABsoRnfNo noon; AND GATE LATCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 11,1913.

Application filed September 18, 1911. Serial No. 649,894.

To all whom it may concern: a Be it known that I, THOMAS CONNOR, citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Shock-Absorbing Door of the catches being retracted by the passing bolt, and returning immediately afterward, and the other one remaining inits normal position. to prevent a further swinging of tracted, depressed, or moved in various ways to allow the door to be again opened.

It is a particular object of my invention to provide a device which operates to prevent undue shock or noise when the'door swings into position and is suddenly checked. 1

My invention also comprises details of construction which will be more fully explained,by reference to the drawings, in whichf Figure 1 is a broken perspective view of a catch. Fig. 2 is an end view. Fig. 3 is a top view showing the latch and catch. Flgsfil and 5 show the catch in its engaged and disengaged position. Fig. 6 is a perspect-ive view with the case broken away showing the operating means. Fig. 7 is an edge view of the door partly-broken to- Fig. 8 shows the divergent latches and shock absorbers.-

show the operating device.

Fig."9 is a in Fig. 8.

As shown in the drawings, A represents a casing in which the latches 2 are fitted. These latches, to resist the shock of the swinging door, may be diverged from each other, and the channels in which they are fitted are sufliciently deeper than the length of the catches to allow them to be retracted whenever the catch upon the. doorpasses them.

Springs 3 are fitted in chambers at the rear ends of the catches and tend to normally hold the catches projected into position to engage with the latches, as will be perspective of one of the latches hereinafterldescribed. The catches 4 nor- The latching devices are reaccompanying mally project from casings 5 which are mortised into the door, and they are so disposed thatfthey may be retracted, depressed or raised out of the line of travel with the latches for the purpose of releasing them to allow the door to beopened.

' It will be understood that when a door, and especially a heavy door is swung so as to latch by the engagement of the catch with 'the latch,- there will be an abrupt stoppage, and when thedoor' is aheavy one the shock and noise will be very considerable. In order to overcome this noise and shock, I have shown elastic shock absorbers 6 which may be made of rubber or springs, and these are placed behind the latches in the direction from which the shock will be given, thus yielding sutficiently for the purpose desired.

It will be seen that when the catches have passed into the space between the latches the door will be prevented from opening until the-catches are in some Way released from the engagement.

I have designed th'ese devices particularly for gates in oflic e. rails and for like purposes. Therefore, as shown in Figs. 1, 2.

and 6, the catch is pivoted in the rear end of its casing and may be depressed so as to allow the gate to be opened.

- Figs.'4=. and 5 show a stem 7 having a suitable knob upon the upper end, and the catch is normally held in'place by a spring 8. When the knob is pressed the catch will be depressed below the level of the latches which will thus be free to move. In some cases, such as where swinging doors are employed in pantries or restaurants, it' is desirable to have the latch, operated by the foot. In such'a case-the latch may have 'a threaded stem 9 with an eye 10 at the end andthis maybe conveniently connected by a hook bolt 11 with cross bars 12 projecting upon each side near the bottom of the door.

Thus when a waiter is passing through the door with an armful of dishes he can readily place'his foot upo'n the bar 12 and disengage the catch from the latch so that the door may swing open. As soon as he has passed the doorwill swing into closed position and be locked.

The above arrangement of the latches and catches allows a very soft yielding spring to be used behind the latches, which spring will be easily compressed whenever the latch passes, and thus the door will close even when opened to a very small extent. The cushions against Which the latches are pressed'when the door closes will yield so that the shock will be almost entirely absorbed.

To prevent the latches from being forced out of their pockets by the springs which operate in the direction of their length, the latches are formed with shoulders 13, and a pin 14 fixed to and projecting from a central dart-shaped section of the casing between the latches 2 and extending within the lineof these shoulders act as stops to limit the movements of the latch in Y the direction of its length, while allowing it to move freely in a transverse direction.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to'secure by Letters Patent is-- 1. A door and gate latch, including a pair of spring pressed repressible latches, upon one member, a catch pivoted at the inner end in the other member, and having a spring by which it is normally held up in horizontal line with the latches, a door having a vertical chamber and a pocket to re- I ceive the catch, and a rod connected with the catch extending downward through the door chamber, and having foot pieces extending through the door to either side.

2. A door and gate latch, including a pair of spring pressed repressible latches, shoulders formed in the latches, and a central dart-shaped section lying between the latches and having oppositely extending stop pins lying in'the space formed by the shoulders to limit the longitudinal movement of the latches.

3. A door and gate latching device, including acasing having channels divergent outwardly, latches slidable in the channels, springs by which the latches are normally projected, and against which they are repressible, said latches having transverse channels, a pin fixed transversely in the casing to limit the movement of the latches, chambers in the walls of the casing, and elastic cushions therein projecting to receive the lateral impact of the latches.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS CONNOR.

Witnesses:- I CHARLES EDELMAN,

M. Coon. 

